Poems Ii

THE WRITINGS JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL IN TEN VOLUMES VOLUME VIII. POEMS ii. JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY fe atoroittt pros, Cambridge MDCCCXCIV CONTENTS PAPERS. NOTICES OF AN INDE NOTE TO TITLE-PAOE ....... 17 INTRODUCTION ........ 21 FIBST SEBIEB. No. I. A LETTER FBOM MB. EZEKIKL BIGIOW OF JAALAM TO THE HON. JOSEPH T. BUCKINGHAM . 43 No. II. A LETTBB FBOM Ms. HOBEA BIOLOW TO TUB HON. J. T. BUCKINGHAM ...... 51 No. III. WHAT MB. ROBINSON THINKS ... 64 No. IV. REMARKS or INCREASE D. OPHACE, ESQ. . 75 No. V. THE DEBATE ra THE SENNIT ... 89 No. VI. THE Pious EDITOBS CBEED ... 97 No. VII. A LETTEB FROM A CANDIDATE FOB THE PRESIDENCY IN ANSWER TO SUTTIN QUESTIONS PRO POSED BY MR. HOSEA BIOLOW ..... 106 No. VIII. A SECOND LETTER FROM B. SAWIN, ESQ. 116 No. IX. A THIRD LETTEB FBOM B. SAWIN, ESQ . 133 THE COUBTUT 2 NO. I. BlBDOFRBDUM SAWIN, ESQ., TO MB. HOSEA BIOLOW 2 No. II. MASON AND SUDBLI. A TAKKKB IDYLL . 2 NO HI. BlBDOFBEDUM SAWIN, ESQ., TO MB. HOSKA BIGLOW 2 No. IV. A MESSAGE OF JEFF DAVIS IN SECRET SES i CONTENTS. No. V. SPEECH OF HONODBA SECEET CAUCUS 3 No. VI. SUHTHIN IN THE PASTOBAL LIKE . 3 No. VII. LATEST VIEWS OF MB. BIOLOW . . a No. VIH. KETTELOPOTOMACHIA .... 3i No. IX. SOME MKMOBIALB OF THE LATE BEVEBEHD H. WILBCB No. X. MB. HOSEA BIOLOW TO THE EDITOR OF THE ATLANTIC MOXTHLT 31 No. XL MB. HOBEA BIOIOWB SPEECH is MABCH NOTES 397 THE BIGLOW PAPERS NOTICES OF AN INDEPENDENT PRESS I HAVE observed, reader bene-or male-volent, as it may happen, that it is customary to append to the sec ond editions of books, and to the second works of au thors, short sentences commendatory of the first, under the title of Notices of the Press. These, I have beengiven to understand, are procurable at certain established rates, payment being made either in money or advertis ing patronage by the publisher, or by an adequate outlay of servility on the part of the author. Considering these things with myself, and also that such notices are neither intended, nor generally believed, to convey any real opinions, being a purely ceremonial accompaniment of literature, and resembling certificates to the virtues of various morbif eral panaceas, I conceived that it would be not only more economical to prepare a sufficient number of such myself, but also more immediately subservient to the end in view to prefix them to this our primary edition rather than to await the contingency of a second, when they would seem to be of small utility. To delay attach ing the bobs until the second attempt at flying the kite wonld indicate but a slender experience in that useful art. Neither has it escaped my notice, nor failed to afford me matter of reflection, that, when a circus or a caravan is about to visit Jaalam, the initial step is to send forward 2 THE BIGLOW PAPERS large and highly ornamented bills of performance to he hung in the bar-room and the post-office. These having been sufficiently gazed at, and beginning to lose their attractiveness except for the flies, and, truly, the boys also in whom I find it impossible to repress, even during school-hours, certain oral and telegraphic communications concerning the expected show, upon some fine morning the band enters in a gayly painted wagon, or triumphal chariot, and with noisy advertisement, by means of brass, wood, and sheepskin, makes the circuit of our startled village streets. Then, as the exciting soundsdraw nearer and nearer, do I desiderate those eyes of Aristarchus, whose looks were as a breeching to a boy. Then do I perceive, with vain regret of wasted opportunities, the ad vantage of a pancratic or pantechnic education, since he is most reverenced by my little subjects who can throw the cleanest summerset or walk most securely upon the revolving cask...